Schools
New store offers Cardinal essentials to students
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| SNP photo by Dan
Trittschuh Thomas Worthington High School secretary Jill Burkholder shows a banner to junior student Rachel Woodfork at the counter of the Aviary, a new novelty and supply store located inside the school. |
* The Aviary opened last week in the halls of Thomas Worthington High School.
By PAMELA WILLIS
The Thomas Worthington High School Cardinals have a new
place to roost: "The Aviary" school store.
The store opened Nov. 23 and is located between the student services and administrative services offices in the high school, said Assistant Principal Geno Smith.
Smith said he was looking at the high school Web site before his interview earlier this year for the assistant principal position.
"On one page there was a link to the school store and I clicked on it but nothing was there," Smith said. "When Principal (Jim) Gaskill expressed an interest in getting the store back up and running, I volunteered to help with it."
Smith said a school store was in operation two years ago, but that space now is being converted to classrooms.
"We wanted to choose a new location that was high traffic but also easily accessible," he said. "The new location has a roll-up window that was once used for selling tickets to school sporting events."
The entire study body was involved in naming the store.
"Students submitted entries in a schoolwide contest and student council members reviewed the entries," he said.
Smith said sophomore Skyler Chill came up with "The Aviary" and had the honor of having her name added to the sign over the store.
She also won a pizza party for 10 of her friends and store credit for merchandise.
Typical merchandise in the school store will includes school-related supplies such as notebooks, folders, pens, pencils and highlighters, along with some spirit wear, such as T-shirts, pompoms and backpacks, Smith said.
The store accepts cash and checks made out to Thomas Worthington and is open before and after school.
"Our goal is to open during lunch periods as well, but we are working out the logistics for those hours," he said.
Staff members are running the store so far.
"We're going to use students to staff the store eventually and hope to get some of the business students involved," he said.
Thomas Worthington is home to one of the district's newest alternative schools, the Entrepreneurship Academy.
Smith said the store will focus mostly on school supplies and probably won't sell snacks, except for possibly mints and other small items.
"We want to get some lists from teachers on what they would like us to stock in the store so that we could have some supplies prepackaged for students to make it easier for families to pick up class supplies," he said.
Response to the store so far has been good, Smith said.
"We've had a lot of people coming in and looking to see what kind of stuff we carry, which is good," he said.
Profits from the store "will be used for any programming we need around the school where funds are lacking," Smith said.
Smith was an administrator for seven years in Columbus Public Schools before coming to Worthington.
The store opened Nov. 23 and is located between the student services and administrative services offices in the high school, said Assistant Principal Geno Smith.
Smith said he was looking at the high school Web site before his interview earlier this year for the assistant principal position.
"On one page there was a link to the school store and I clicked on it but nothing was there," Smith said. "When Principal (Jim) Gaskill expressed an interest in getting the store back up and running, I volunteered to help with it."
Smith said a school store was in operation two years ago, but that space now is being converted to classrooms.
"We wanted to choose a new location that was high traffic but also easily accessible," he said. "The new location has a roll-up window that was once used for selling tickets to school sporting events."
The entire study body was involved in naming the store.
"Students submitted entries in a schoolwide contest and student council members reviewed the entries," he said.
Smith said sophomore Skyler Chill came up with "The Aviary" and had the honor of having her name added to the sign over the store.
She also won a pizza party for 10 of her friends and store credit for merchandise.
Typical merchandise in the school store will includes school-related supplies such as notebooks, folders, pens, pencils and highlighters, along with some spirit wear, such as T-shirts, pompoms and backpacks, Smith said.
The store accepts cash and checks made out to Thomas Worthington and is open before and after school.
"Our goal is to open during lunch periods as well, but we are working out the logistics for those hours," he said.
Staff members are running the store so far.
"We're going to use students to staff the store eventually and hope to get some of the business students involved," he said.
Thomas Worthington is home to one of the district's newest alternative schools, the Entrepreneurship Academy.
Smith said the store will focus mostly on school supplies and probably won't sell snacks, except for possibly mints and other small items.
"We want to get some lists from teachers on what they would like us to stock in the store so that we could have some supplies prepackaged for students to make it easier for families to pick up class supplies," he said.
Response to the store so far has been good, Smith said.
"We've had a lot of people coming in and looking to see what kind of stuff we carry, which is good," he said.
Profits from the store "will be used for any programming we need around the school where funds are lacking," Smith said.
Smith was an administrator for seven years in Columbus Public Schools before coming to Worthington.
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